Existing methods for locating a component underneath a surface of an airplane for maintenance/repair of the airplane include maintenance/repair technicians spending significant time to visually determine the component location and the closest access panel through mental correlation between a known maintenance zone containing the component and drawing locator illustrations which include the component. In one example, the component is a wire/connector which is used by the maintenance/repair technicians to test another component, such as an actuator, which is electrically connected to the wire/connector.
What is needed is an improved method for locating a component underneath a surface of a target object and an improved method for locating and identifying the access panel which is closest or most appropriate for accessing the component. Also needed is the correlation of given component three point locations to predefined maintenance zones and access panels.